FOOTBALL SEASON IS HERE! My excitement for my Buccaneers is through the roof. I really believe this is the year we go to the playoffs. If you love football like I do, chances are you’re in a fantasy football league. There is nothing greater than beating your boss and laying down the trash talk to exert dominance over him or her. I’m surprised I still have a job. Whether you’re a seasoned vet or a newbie, there are resources out there to let you get one step ahead of the competition. If you have a Janice in HR, there is nothing you can do. She’ll probably pick Drew Brees with her first pick and win the entire league. Here are five of my favorite resources that I use to pretend to know more about football than other people.
1. Reddit: r/fantasyfootball
Reddit is a fantastic resource for fantasy football discussion. There are 250,000+ subscribers who post user-generated content or articles to stimulate fantasy football discussion. There are a variety of threads ranging from fantasy football advice to how certain players will perform throughout the season. Reddit has a very active user base, which means there are a ton of content that gets posted daily. If you ask a question on a certain topic, there is a high probability that someone will reply quickly. Just use Reddit with a grain of salt. The fantasy football Reddit users have a tendency to seek affirmation for their fantasy football team, which results in regurgitated optimism for certain players. For example, every year people hop on the Christine Michael hype train only to be sorely disappointed.
2. Defense Wins Championships
This is my favorite resource for streaming defenses. For those that don’t know, “streaming defenses” means to choose teams who have a favorable matchup against a weaker opponent. The reason this strategy works is because the separation of points from the best defense to the 16th best defense is low. Defense Wins Championships is written by a guy named Dylan Lerch (quickonthedrawl on Reddit) who is brilliant. He separates defenses based on tiers and puts up the points projected. He also does a write-up of why he thinks the defenses will perform a certain way. He has helped me put together successful seasons with his incredible information. The easiest way to find him is to click on the link above or find his post on the fantasy football subreddit. His post is always at the very top from week to week.
3. Fantasy Football Tiers by Boris Chen
Boris Chen’s fantasy football tiers is an absolute must-have during your fantasy football draft. He compiles data from fantasypros.com to put players into different tiers. This helps to draft not based on ADP (average draft pick), but by what tier they are in. He has downloadable Excel sheets that you can print out to bring to your fantasy football draft. Another resource you can use is Jay Zheng’s draft aid, which is an interactive program that uses Boris Chen’s fantasy football tiers. You can click or tap on players who get drafted to remove them from the fantasy draft pool. This helps to visualize your best remaining options.
4. Fantasy Pros Mock Draft Simulator
Fantasy Pros is a great tool to look at experts rankings on players. Where Fantasy Pros really shines is the mock draft simulator. If you’ve ever done a mock draft through ESPN, you know that it is mind-numbingly slow and people leave after the first pick. The mock draft simulator on Fantasy Pros lets customize your pick number, point format (PPR, 0.5 PPR, or Standard), and how big your league is. Once your are in the mock draft, the only person you have to wait on is yourself. The picks are auto-generated based on expert predictions. It also gives you a percentage of what the expert thinks is your next best pick. Mock drafts will help you to potentially see which picks consistently fall to you. It also helps you go through different scenarios like going RB-RB or WR-WR to see how your team stacks up at the end.
5. The Fantasy Footballers Podcast
Podcasts are the solution for long commutes in heavily congested traffic. I used to live an hour from my work and everyday I would faithfully tune into the Fantasy Footballers podcast to see what they had to say about fantasy football. The Fantasy Footballers is a group of three guys who talk about all things fantasy football. It is a great resource if you’re a newbie to fantasy football. They are incredibly entertaining to listen to and refrain from droning about only stats and numbers. It is a great way to immerse yourself in fantasy football discussion and get great tips from guys who have been around fantasy football for a long time. The Fantasy Footballers can also be found on iTunes, YouTube, and Spotify. Click here to check out their website!
There you have it. My secret to success. I hope my teammates don’t read this. These resources always put me in a position to make the playoffs pretty much every single year. Except for last year. The first four out of five picks got injured last year, which put me in last place. Many thanks to Adrian Peterson, Keenan Allen, Eric Decker, and Jeremy Langford. With that being said, I wish you the best of luck in your fantasy football season and may your team stay healthy.
